"The Seals of Virginia"
"The Seals of Virginia," Seventh Annual Report of the Library Board of the Virginia State Library (1909-1910), 7-47.[1]
Article text
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Seals of Virginia.
Part II.
Period of Statehood.
As the various quarterings on •the arms of private families often depict by heraldic symbol~ great deeds performed, so the great seal of a commonwealth should not only be the symbol of sovereignty, but should be a faithful reflection of the great principles which are the foundation of the state's very existence, and an expositor of the science, literature, history and art of its period. It should be a great picture of the noble impulses and truths of the commonwealth's life reduced to a miniature, yet clear and precise in detail. In other words, it should be the multum in parvo. Such is the seal of Virginia. The importance of the great seal of the Commonwealth, as an emblem of sovereignty and an evidence of high political functions, was appreciated by the Convention of 1776, and it appointed a committee composed of some of the greatest minds of the day to prepare the design for the seal. The committee consisted of Richard Henry Lee, George Mason, Mr. Treasurer [Robert Carter Nicholas] and George Wythe. The following is an abstract from the minutes of the Virginia convention of Friday, July 5, 1 1776:
. . . “Mr. George Mason, from the committee appointed to devise a proper seal for this Commonwealth, reported that the committee had accordingly prepared the following device thereof; which he read in his place, and afterwards delivered in at the clerk's table, where the same was again twice read and agreed to.
TO BE ENGRAVED ON THE GREAT SEAL.
VIRTUS, the genius of the Commonwealth, dressed like an Amazon, resting on a spear with one hand, and holding a sword in the other, and treading on TYRANNY, represented by a man prostrate, a crown fallen from his head, a broken chain in his left hand, and a scourge in his right. In the exergon, the word VIRGINIA over the head of VIRTUS: and underneath the words Sic Semper Tyrannis. On the reverse, a groupe. LIBERTAS, with her wand and pileus. On one side of her CERES, with the cornucopia in one hand, and an ear of wheat in the other. On the other side AETERNITAS, with the globe and phoenix. In the exergon, these words:
DEUS NOBIS HAEC OTIA FECIT.
Resolved, that George Wytbe, and John Page, Esquires, be desired to superintend the engraving the said seal, and to take care that the same be properly executed. . . ." The authorship of the design has been a disputed point among historians for many years. Col. Sherwin McRae, in his report to the Governor on the State Seal, made Fell. 25, 1884, gives the credit to George Mason, emphasizing particu-
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See also
References
- ↑ "The Seals of Virginia," Seventh Annual Report of the Library Board of the Virginia State Library (1909-1910), 7-47.
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